


Illuminated

by Amlovelies



Category: The Wayhaven Chronicles (Interactive Fiction)
Genre: Adam's POV, Angst, Denial of Feelings, F/M, Spin the Bottle, Surprise Party, act of service, kira and adam do not kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:34:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29092836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amlovelies/pseuds/Amlovelies
Summary: In which Farah and Tina plan a surprise party for Kira and meddle in her not-relationship with Adam
Relationships: Female Detective/Adam du Mortain
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Illuminated

**Author's Note:**

> written for a prompt request over on tumblr

Adam could think of few things more irritating than a surprise party. Yet, some humans found them delightful. It hadn’t taken much for Office Poname to convince Farah that it was the best idea for Kira’s upcoming birthday. At the very least, the Unit’s involvement meant there would be no surprised the night of the event. He shudders to think how he might have reacted otherwise.

  
  


She is still working on paperwork in her office when he finds her. Neat and orderly stacks of files cover her desk. Boxes filled with more paperwork lie in wait behind her. The descending sun has filled the room with golden light and she is illuminated in its glow.

  
  


“Ah, Adam, I was wondering who they would send,” Kira says with a small smile as she glances up from the open file on her desk.

  
  


He clears his throat in an attempted to find his voice. “I’m not sure I understand, detective.”

  
  


“Let me guess. It was Farah’s idea for you to distract me until everyone is ready for me to arrive?”

  
  


“Then you know?” He responds with a frown.

  
  


“Of course, I do!” she says with a laugh. “I am a detective after all, and Tina is not known for her subtlety.”

  
  


He nods, of course she knew. He shouldn’t be surprised at this point, but she continues to surprise him, to delight him, to draw him in. “I believe a half hour should be more than sufficient.”

  
  


She nods expecting the answer. “Since you’re stuck here with me, and you're such a fan of paperwork, care to assist me with some filing? It can be your present to me.”

  
  


She looks up at him with eyes wide and pleading. The effect is ruined a little by the smirk on her face.

  
  


“I’d be happy to help, but only because it’s your birthday.” He responds with a smile of his own.

  
  


They work in companionable silence for a few minutes before Kira begins humming. Adam resists the urge to comment on it. He’s made that mistake before, and he knows she will grow self-conscious and stop. He doesn’t want that.

  
  


She excuses herself to freshen up, taking the music with her. From the bathroom he hears her humming turn to singing. He’s only been able to hear her singing voice a handful of times: her voice clear and beautiful in the early morning at her apartment, softer during the evening at the Warehouse, and with a joyful smile in her death trap of her car. Her voice was mesmerizing, dangerous, like a siren calling to him from across the sea. So much promise held within the melodies, so many things he knew better than to want. He is torn. Torn between wanting to stuff up his ears and wanting to memorize every note. Torn and paralyzed between two forces. The growing cavernous want within him fighting against the bitter knowledge that it is something he can never have.

  
  


He has to take a steadying breath when she reenters the room. The familiar scent of her perfume almost overwhelms him. She wore it that night at the carnival. He would remember it anywhere. The scent of peony haunted him for weeks afterwards. Every time he had put on his coat he was hit with the memory of her head on his shoulder. He can remember the heat of her body and light of the fireworks reflected in her eyes. They’re rimmed with black tonight, their blue almost painful. She’s let her hair down so it falls in loose waves around her face. The top she has changed into is tighter, lower cut than her usual garb. Adam has to look away. He doesn’t trust his eyes to not linger, to not follow the paths his hands itch to trace.

  
  


“Is everything okay Adam?” she asks crossing as she pulls on her jacket and wraps her arms around herself.

  
  


“Of course, Detective, we should get going. It wouldn’t do to keep the party waiting.”

  
  


“of course,” she says with a sigh. Without waiting for him she walks to the door of the precinct.

  
  


The air is balmy. The heat of the summer day is dissipating, a cool evening breeze replacing it. The sun is almost over the horizon painting the sky in vivid pinks before fading to dusky purple. It takes Adam no effort to catch up to Kira, and they begin the familiar walk to her apartment.

  
  


After a few minutes she asks, “when is your birthday?”

  
  


It takes him a moment to recall, it’s not something he has thought about in a long time, “May.”

  
  


“We just missed it then!” she exclaims. “You should have told me; we could have done something!”

  
  


“I have not celebrated it for many years,” he says with a shrug.

  
  


“I guess it loses meaning after a while.” She conceded, “but we can still do something! Besides birthdays aren’t just about you. There a chance for the people who lo-“ she stumbles over the word, “-who care about you to celebrate you.”

  
  


“Do I take it that you are not excited about this party?”

  
  


“No, I am, it’s just not what I would have chosen right now. I can’t very well tell Tina that I’m too tired due to my second job with a super-secret squad of vampires could I?”

  
  


“I see your point.” It was true that the detective had gotten very little down time since signing on with the agency. Not for the first time, he worries about the effect the additional work and stress is having on her. it didn’t help that her captain seemed determine to keep her mired in busy work.

  
  


She does an admirable job of feigning surprise when they open the door to her apartment. People erupt from behind furniture all yelling and cheering. He swallows down the instinct to place himself in front of her, to use his body as her shield. There is no danger here.

  
  


He finds the party tedious. A few of the human guest attempt to engage him in conversation, but give up under the scrutiny of his green eyes and disdainful tone. Kira is the center of attention and she glows. He isn’t used to seeing her outside of her professional roles. She laughs easier, the spark of mischief in her eye shining brighter than usual.

  
  


She is surrounded by people who care about her, people who she has not seen much of these last few months. She is quick to blame it on the promotion, on her new role as detective, but Adam knows the truth. It is her involvement in the supernatural, her involvement with them, that has kept her distant from her human life in Wayhaven.

  
  


It is a reminder; one he desperately needs when she throws her head back and her laugh. The sound floats through the crowded apartment piercing his heart with a profound longing. She belongs here, among other humans, safe and beloved, not hidden in the depths of the Warehouse or out in the dangers of the night, or in his arms.

  
  


There is cake and singing. Kira pulls her hair back and bends down to blow out the candles. The flickering lights make her freckles appear to dance across her face, and Adam can’t look away. Someone calls out, “make a wish!”

  
  


The candles are extinguished with a breath. She opens her eyes and they find his. He is lost in their depths, unable to look away, but knowing that he should. He manages to tear himself away with a pang. It is only too clear what she wishes for. How cruel that it is the one thing he cannot give her.

  
  


A game is suggested, something that causes giggles and blushes to erupt among the humans. He watches as a space is cleared in the center of the coffee table and the majority of the guest gather around.

  
  


“You should come play, Adam!” Farah says as she slides up next to him. Her eyes glow with the promise of mischief and the excitement of new experiences.

  
  


He quirks an eyebrow in her direction, “and why exactly is that?”

  
  


“Because maybe you’ll finally get over yourself,” she says with a laugh.

  
  


“I fail to see how a party game would achieve that.”

  
  


Farah rolls her eyes, “no one can say I didn’t try” she mumbles to herself as she takes a seat around the table.

  
  


Officer Poname is talking and gesturing excitedly with an empty wine bottle in hand. From what Adam can glean it is a childish game, a relic from their youth.

  
  


The bottle is placed in the center of the table and spun until it ends pointing towards Farah. Farah wastes no time in jumping from her seat and claiming a kiss from the officer’s lips.

  
  


A juvenile game indeed. It continues with giggles and cheers. Every time the bottle spins Adam feels his heart stutter in his chest. He sighs in relieve each time it ends pointed to another guest, but his luck runs out. The bottle spins, and slows until it stops pointed at Kira. The young man who spun it hollering in excitement and leaning over the table.

  
  


Adam forces himself to watch. This is as it should be. Kira deserves someone safe, to not get lost in the world of the agency and the supernatural. She belongs her surround by people who care about her and laughter and light. He can only end up bring her darkness and pain.

  
  


It is a brief thing, barely a brush of their lips against each other. Even knowing that it was happening a growl threatens to erupt form his chest. He tastes blood as he bites down to keep it inside. At least he’s managed to stop himself from breaking yet another piece of her furniture. He would inflict any pain on himself if it would spare her.

  
  


Kira grabs the bottle, but rather than spin it and continue the game, she stands. “I think that’s a long enough trip down memory lane. Besides, Tina, you achieved your goal of getting me a kiss on my birthday.”

  
  


He feels her eyes on him for a moment, but he doesn’t trust himself to return her gaze. He listens to her footsteps as she disappears into the kitchen. He has spent longer at the party than he intended. He doesn’t trust himself to remain in the room with that young man much longer. He had promised to bring her to the party, to stay for a while, and he has fulfilled that promise.

  
  


“Don’t you dare try to leave without saying goodbye.” Officer Poname corners him at the front door.

  
  


“There are many people here fighting for her attention. I hardly think she would notice my absence.”

  
  


“Farah was right. You are impossible.” Officer Poname says as she pinches the bridge of her nose. “She’s just in the kitchen, tell her good night and happy birthday. She’ll be upset if you don’t”

  
  


It rankles taking an order from this chit of a human, but he also knows that she is right. Kira deserves better than him slinking off. Kira deserves better than him.

  
  


She’s alone in the kitchen, and he wonders if it is Officer Poname’s doing.

  
  


“Has the party been to your liking?”

  
  


“It has,” she says with a nod. “I’m surprised you’ve stayed so long especially considering my friends ideas of entertainment.” A blush paints her cheeks.

  
  


Adam rubs a hand over the back of his neck the image of the kiss still burned into his mind. Taking a deep breath, he tries to swallow down the growl that threatens to escape with the memory. Perhaps he should have allowed Farah to pull him into the game. That way he could have learned the feeling of her lips at least once. That way he could have had deniability, a game nothing more, but it would have never worked. In his heart of hearts Adam knows that if he were to kiss her once, he would never be able to stop.

  
  


“We all make sacrifices for the people we care about.”

  
  


Her face lights up at the words. He tries to back track, but he stumbles over the words, too captivated by the hopeful smile breaking across her face. “I mean as part of the unit. We all care about your happiness.”

  
  


Her smile falls slowly, and then all at once. “I should get back to the party.”

  
  


“Of course,” Adam says as he steps back allowing her to pass. He resists the urge to reach out to her as she passes. He resists the desire to keep her in the quiet of the kitchen. He doesn't want to allow her to leave again until her face is glowing like it was only a moment ago. He longs to recapture the moment before he kept talking. A moment that he ruined. He has to remind himself that it is better to ruin her smile now. The pain of a deeper entanglement would be much worse.

  
  


Tina doesn’t stop him when he goes to leave this time, but he can feel her disapproving glare as he leaves. Humans always so sure they understand when really, they know so little.

  
  


He doesn’t go back to the warehouse, instead his feet lead him to the police station. It takes very little to slip passed the night volunteer into her office. Once inside he continues where they’d left off hours before.

  
  


With methodical precision he begins working through the remaining paperwork. It may not match any of the shiny gifts she received tonight, but he can do this for her. He will spend the night her in the darkness if it means she gets to spend longer in the light.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr @amlovelies  
> thank you for reading 💜


End file.
